Dublin City councillor Lucinda Creighton was selected last night as the Fine Gael candidate for the Dublin South-East constituency at the next general election.
After a keenly-fought contest for the nomination she received 152 votes as against 112 for her rival, Cllr Brian Gillen.
While Mr Gillen may be added to the ticket at a later stage, Fine Gael is at this point more likely to run just one candidate in an effort to regain the seat lost at the last election.
"Michael McDowell, Ruairí Quinn and John Gormley hold three of the four seats, and all will be running unaccompanied, so we took the view that it was best to run one candidate to have a strong chance of regaining the seat," said a party spokesman.
Fianna Fáil TD Eoin Ryan is not expected to run again, as he was elected to the European Parliament in June 2004.
Fine Gael currently has no TD in Dublin South-East, which in previous years was represented by Fine Gael taoisigh Garret FitzGerald and John A. Costello. Frances Fitzgerald, who lost the seat in 2002, did not live in the constituency, but there is speculation that she may run in Dublin Mid-West next time around.
